14 DAY TRIAL // I'm trying to figure out why the following phrase sounds so familiar and I just can't: "[X] sued for Intellectual Property Rights violation." Perhaps it might appeal to your memory because I just can't think of anything that resembles it. Oh, wait? it's all too common and that's why I couldn't exactly put my finger on just one memory so that I could individualize it and retrieve it via neural synapses as the reference point for the article to come.
According to Beijing's Legal Evening News, the Chinese mainland search engine was sued for 100 million CNY because it was linked to 351 songs it did not possess IPR right to. There it is, that's the phrase! Oh, don't worry, it's not that much money altogether, only 13,514,791.94 USD or 9,127,622.64 EUR but it's important because it is the single largest sum of money asked as compensation at the Beijing Supreme Court, a record-setter. Under different terms, I'm sure Baidu would've been happy to be able to link its name to a record, be it a local one, at that.
It is a difficult case and an extremely time-consuming one, it took three hours alone to determine if just one case of IPR infraction had legal bases. As expected, the case will be continued on a number of days, as it is indeed complex. Baidu is hitting back and claiming that the other side was engaged in faking IPR-related proof.
This is just one of the many recent similar lawsuits filed for the same reasons, mostly copyright infringement. Google's YouTube was involved in one recently and it seems that Prince went berserk over the same reasons to the extent of threatening his own fans with legal action. This is all connected with the recent updates on the IPR protection laws that seem to determine many "top dogs" of the industry to start signing agreements between themselves.